あにもあらじおのが身のから人の子の
言も尽さじ我れも寄りなむ
言も尽さじ我れも寄りなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Ani mo araji ono ga mi no kara hito no ko no koto mo tsukusaji ware mo yorinamu
- English Translation
-
That will never do—
for the sake of my own self
to make others' girls
waste all their words on me;
I too shall go and draw near.
- Meaning
- That will never do; I will not have the others spend all their words on me for my own sake. I too shall go and draw near to him.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3799
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Nine poems in reply by the maidens."
Refusing to make her companions waste words on her account, the maiden resolves to draw near to the old man as well. The first half is read in several ways, and the poem is considered difficult.
This is the set in which the nine maidens who had teased the Bamboo-Cutter answer his chōka and envoys one after another. From the second poem on, almost every one ends with "I too shall draw near," so that the maidens yield to the old man one by one.
The poet is one of the nine maidens the Bamboo-Cutter met; her name is not recorded. She is a figure of the tale, one of those the old man called immortals.
First line, "ani mo araji," means "surely not" or "that will never do," opening with a strong denial.
Second line, "ono ga mi no kara," means "because of myself." Kara expresses cause.
Third line, "hito no ko no," means "others," understood here as her fellow maidens.
Fourth line, "koto mo tsukusaji," means "I will not make them spend their words." The negative volitional ji echoes ji in the first line, and the poem pauses here.
Final line, "ware mo yorinamu," means "I too shall draw near," the refrain shared by the set.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Nani su to tagai wa oramu ina mo o mo tomo no naminami ware mo yorinamu
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Hadasusuki ho ni wa na ide so omoitaru kokoro wa shirayu ware mo yorinamu